Staff at Thus provide customer support

The deal means that Thus workers will continue to run Hewlett Packard's UK customer management centre.

It is the third consecutive extension of the contract and carries with it the possibility of more jobs being created.

Chief executive of Thus Plc, Bill Allan, said much of HP's success was down to "outstanding customer service".

He said:"HP serves more than one billion customers around the world and it has consistently chosen Thus because of our flexibility in providing resources to support HP's business.

'Example of excellence'

"HP's UK customer management centre in Glasgow is held up as an international example of excellence in managing customer contacts.

"The centre recently changed focus to concentrate resources on sales generation in addition to providing exemplary customer service.

"As a result, sales activity rates have risen from 52% of staff time to 67% and growing."

The call centre's general manager, Sandra Rogers, said: "I'm delighted to approve this contract which lays the foundation for HP to provide enhanced sales and services to its business customers.

"We have recently recruited an additional 50 sales people and this is only the start of HP building a world class sales centre."